If you happen to be living in a warm region, you would prefer to have an air conditioner installed or have some arrangement that allows a lot of air to pass through the house. You can have either or both of these arrangements. To facilitate flow of air you need to have sufficient number of windows in an appropriate design. Casement windows are ideally suited for the purpose and here’s why.
The most important design feature of this window is that it opens like a book. You can completely open it on the hinges to get a full view of the world outside your home.
This design provides for maximum air to enter the house without any hindrance coming on its way. That can possibly help saving on electricity during windy weather due restricted use of fans or air conditioners, and the resultant energy bills.
One find many houses built very close to each other like apartments that are constructed nearly side by side, making it difficult to have circulation of wind through the windows sandwiched between two buildings. Here, the design of casement window proves very helpful. Its sashes are at an angle, quite like a flap that can direct wind passing through the space to flow through the building. So, we can say that the design of casement windows attracts wind to the house, providing the much required ventilation.
Many homeowners like to use air conditioners when it gets warm. It’s important that he room housing the air conditioner doesn’t have many points through which cool air could escape. The design of certain windows is not appropriate to completely seal the window, allowing cool air to escape the room. The design of casement window, however, seals the window well enough to prevent any leakage, thus leading to efficient cooling. It means that the room gets cooled fast and cool air remains within the room for long, and that’s what we need during hot weather. It also helps to cut down on your consumption of electricity and reduces your energy bills. For enjoying these benefits you need to invest in good quality casement windows, rather than trying to cut on their cost.
Generally speaking, casement windows are worthwhile addition to any house in warmer areas. These are not very expensive and a good quality window makes the place more comfortable.
The Problems of Casement Windows
Casement windows enjoy popularity, compared to other styles of windows mainly because of their ability to let in more of fresh air. Further, these are convenient to use, needing little maintenance. However, on using these designs of window people come to realize its drawbacks too.
The design of the casement window has its own limitations. Because it’s designed to swing outward, you can’t have a screen or storm window on its outer side. As a result, people have to fix screens on the inner side, which certainly is not very pleasant looking. There’s no way you can use storm window with casement windows. Simply put, it means that you have to depend upon casement window itself to work as a storm window. Coming back again to the design of a casement window, we know that it employs a crank mechanism for its opening, making it impossible to do away with crank. Many users don’t like the looks of a crank wedged in the window sill. So, people who are conscious of aesthetics, like to have another kind of window like a sliding one that better matches the interiors.
Moreover, with the window opening in swinging manner, it is difficult to have it in larger sizes. As the window open on the outside, leaving a large window open for long intervals would cause it to sag because of the sash acting against gravity as it’ kept in place by the hinges only. However, you can overcome this limitation of size by having a number of casement windows in one row or by installing a fixed window adjacent to it. Casement windows tend to get misaligned over prolonged use, compared to other designs of windows because of the size limitation. As a result you are unable to close it appropriately and it begins to get stuck frequently, and may result to getting draught of air due misalignment. Some manufacturers claim to have overcome this problem through superior hardware and window glazing treatments. On the whole, the window may not be found suitable by many consumers.
Casement Window Air Conditioner
Another technological wonder in the form of casement window air conditioner comes to further add to your comfort and convenience, allowing you to beat the summer heat like nothing else can do. It can be mounted on windows that slide across. It’ installation is easy and most homeowners are able to do it on their own. The most important factor that you have to keep in mind, while looking for a perfect air conditioner for your home is the area of the room where you are going to install it. If the room is very large, it may not get cooled effectively and if it’s very small, it will cool very fast and cause humidity.
The power of a casement conditioner is measured in term of BTU, British thermal Unit. You get conditioners with a BTU of 8000 to 1200, enabling you to choose one as per the size of the room to be kept cool. Most machines are noiseless with rare complaints of their being noisy.
As casement conditioners are energy efficient, you save on your energy bills. The latest models are provided with timers, allowing you to adjust cooling time for the machine. That saves you from the irritation of landing into a warm room anytime. Then, there is a switch off timer that can be adjusted to switch off the machine after the room has reached a predefined temperature and restart after the temperature goes up. This arrangement helps saving on your electricity consumption.
Efficient working of any machine requires adequate maintenance, and casement window air conditioners are no exception. These come with air filters that are easy to detach. You simply need to clean the filter once a month to prevent dust from getting accumulated.
